Latest move by the Pa. Liquor Control Board is more reason to privatize system

Joe Hermitt, The Patriot-News, 2010At least the latest PLCB idea does not involve blowing into a breathalyzer.

Here’s a novel idea: Let’s have wine and beer for sale in Pennsylvania grocery stores.

It will be akin to buying alcoholic beverages in most other states: convenient, straightforward and still thwarting underage consumers because you have to scan your license to buy it.

But wait.

This is Pennsylvania, the state that still clings to the Prohibition era when it comes to alcohol.

The latest proposal from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board is yet another tease. This state doesn’t need one more half-hearted attempt at making alcohol sales convenient. It needs a privatized liquor sale system.

The PLCB’s big idea is to place state stores near grocery stores. As current liquor store leases end, the state will consider relocation closer to major supermarket areas. It’s the tortoise approach to making state stores more convenient.

To speed things up, the PLCB also is piloting a few state liquor and beer store outlets inside supermarkets.

This sounds great, except customers have to ring up beer at a different register from spirits and don’t even try to ring up your bread and eggs alongside a bottle of alcohol. Pennsylvanians would have to go to multiple registers to make simple purchases.

At least there’s no proposal for a breathalyzer test — so far. Remember that? The wine vending machines inside grocery stores that tanked.

Or the proposals to upgrade state liquor stores to be more bright and welcoming, not like postwar relics.

These latest attempts at modernizing an archaic system are another reminder that the PLCB will never get into the 21st century. It is simply too constrained as a state entity.

Pennsylvania should not be in the business of selling alcohol, as this newspaper has said many times.

While the PLCB has done a decent job of protecting against underage drinking over the years, the reality is that technology is now at a point where it’s harder to fake IDs. Scanning licenses at cash registers is an adequate check to prevent underage purchases and is commonly used in other states.

In an era where people can buy just about anything online, convenience is king. Buying alcohol should be easier in this state, and it’s unlikely the PLCB can ever get there, as evidenced by its latest proposal.

As if Pennsylvania needed more reasons to privatize, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported this year that three PLCB officials are under investigation for ethics violations. They are alleged to have accepted gifts from vendors. Board member (and ex-chairman) Patrick Stapleton resigned and is reportedly under investigation.

While we can’t draw conclusions yet, it’s apparent that the state of Pennsylvania shouldn’t be funding employees flying worldwide tasting wines and attending events.

That doesn’t strike the right note at a time when cutbacks are occurring in the rest of government.

House Majority Leader Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, has led the effort to privatize the state system in the Legislature. He should not back down.

Normally, compromise and middle ground are welcome in politics and lead to good outcomes. But when it comes to the PLCB, it’s all or nothing.